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| Self-Redeploying Mines Under Development |
| 2003-03-14 |
| Edited for brevity Landmines are already some of the nastiest weapons there are. But they could soon become downright diabolical. Because the Defense Department is developing mines that can talk to one another, and move themselves around in order to cause maximum harm. To neutralize a minefield, mine-clearers traditionally haven't had to pick up every last one of the explosives. They just had to clear a path to allow people and vehicles to pass through lethal areas safely. A new group of mines renders this tactic obsolete. The munitions of the "Self-Healing Minefield Program" use tiny radios and acoustic sensors to stay in constant communication with each other. If some of the mines are removed, the ones that remain can "hop" hundreds of meters away, if needed, to rearrange themselves and to close the gaps. "The minefield acts more like a fluid, and less like a static obstacle," said Dr. Tom Altschuler, who, until recently, oversaw the Self-Healing Minefield for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). In a recent test at Sandia National Laboratories, it took less than 20 seconds for 10 self-healing prototypes to recognize that a mine had been taken away, and to shoot up like stovetop popcorn and reorder themselves. Additional testing has been done at Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri. A test of 100 or more mines is planned for next month there, according to Altschuler. Armed with a radio transmitter, each mobile mine takes a turn broadcasting a signal to its fellow munitions, telling them to listen up. The mine then sends out an acoustic "ping," which determines that mine's relative position and distance from its mates. The ping also determines if any mines are missing. If that's the case, the mines use pre-planned algorithms to determine the best way to heal the breach. Each mine comes with a small amount of fuel and a tiny piston. When the mine needs to move, the piston is fired into a metal "foot," which causes the mine to hop a few meters away. A mine can make as many as a hundred hops before it has to be refueled. Seems this could also make them easier to detect since they are broadcasting radio waves? I expect there would also be broadcast codes for them to self-destruct or disarm? |
| Posted by:Dar Steckelberg |